Hey.

Dec 1 Just an update

The semester is over! Exams are over! My Postgraduate Diploma is over! All those exclamation marks feign some sort of excitement, but it’s not entirely accurate. I am relieved for it to be finished, but it takes a while for the stress levels to return to normal. I can’t help but still feel like there’s something I’m forgetting to do and I’m pretty sure it’s not putting my washing away, because I’ve never felt any urge to do that during any other point in my life. In the ten days since my last exam, I’ve watched all 20 episodes of Pretty Little Liars season 7, completed two expert level Sudoku puzzles and continued to drink too much coffee. If you’re looking for some life-changing revelations, this isn’t the blog post for you, skip this one, I won’t be offended. This one is more of an update of everything that I’ve been up to and where I’m at in the crisis cycle.

For the past four days my account has been in overdraft and its caused a fair bit of stress, but also a lot of reflection on how fortunate I am to experience this so infrequently. I’m also really grateful for the social capital I have, which allows me to write this with my coffee in hand that is put on a tab that I can pay tomorrow. I type this on the latest MacBook, which unlocked itself with my Apple Watch, which is actually outrageous. I feel a little embarrassed for even a second of feeling sorry for myself. I’ve got myself into this position purely by living beyond my means and eating my feelings, which was made apparent as I looked over my bank statements (and wrestled my ass into my new jeans). So as usual, I’m using this less than ideal situation to reflect and make change. First step, sell some shit I don’t need. I washed all of the clothes in my closet, allowing me to sort through and sell or donate what I don’t need without too many obstacles. I managed to clear out a decent amount, but its going to be a work in progress. Secondly, I have 5 pairs of sunglasses, which is actually a huge reduction from 3 years ago, but still unnecessary as I only really wear 2 of them. Last but not least, shoes. That’s all I have to say at this stage, I haven’t been brave enough to tackle that section. Second step, work some more. I went from having no job, to having one job that was very slow moving (almost no work for me to do for 6 weeks) to just having signed a contract for my third job! As soon as I finished up my exams I jumped straight into working as a yoga studio assistant, and I’ve also taken a job back at Nike St Lukes as a Christmas Casual.

These certainly aren’t my ideal jobs, but my role as a research assistant needs to be supplemented somehow, and the flexibility of the other two roles are ideal. After listening to The Minimalists audiobook, and hearing how they delivered pizzas and everything else they could do to get them closer to financial freedom encouraged me to put aside my pride and get shit done. While mopping and rolling yoga mats isn’t how I imagined my summer, the pay is generous, the team are beyond kind and the opportunity to practice yoga in such a beautiful studio multiple times a week has been so beneficial. For that I am grateful. As for my somewhat dramatic departure from retail (accompanied by an artsy black and white Instagram post of my abandoned nametag), I’ve always felt that I left a little piece of me there. I loved my job there for so long, but there were a series of events that led me to eventually lose my shit and resign. It’s going to be an adjustment from being on the management team to being a Christmas Casual, but I think I’m ready for the challenge. I’m a little concerned about returning to the store and being sucked in by the Swoosh into buying a million performance running products, but I’m going to focus on separating the selling to others from selling to myself. Wish me luck.

Finally, I took TWO weeks off running, that’s the longest I’ve had off for probably three years? Maybe longer? My foot is slowly healing but the issues that arose from it regarding my sciatic nerve irritation persist. So I’m reconnecting with the other forms of movement that I enjoyed before running took over my life, which has been so much fun. My wireless headphones haven’t been touched in almost a month, because I’m working out with other people again! Running can be really isolating, even when if you train as part of a crew, like I did, most of the time you run alone. So you’ll find me jumping around at GRIT plyo and Cloud Runners Society, and taking it slow at Park Run and One Step for the next few weeks at least. Come hang!